SEC shuts down Onitsha, Ibadan, Kaduna offices

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has disclosed plans to conclude all processes associated with dematerialisation in the nation’s capital market by December 31, 2015.

SEC also announced it had closed down three of its zonal offices in Onitsha, Ibadan and Kaduna as part of measures to strengthen and fortify the other offices in Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt.

Addressing journalists at the second quarter Capital Market Committee (CMC) meeting in Lagos, the Director General of the SEC, Mounir Gwarzo, explained that 17 out of the 22 registrars operating in the capital market have complied with full dematerialisation of share certificates.

Dematerilisation is the process of replacing paper certificates with electronic records at the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS). Gwarzo said that the commission was currently working with all stakeholders in the market to conclude the process by the end of December this year.

The Director General, who maintained that the commission’s regulation would be more stringent
with zero tolerance to market infractions, explained that SEC has already instructed registrars to notify shareholders to elect stockbroking firms of their choice in readiness for full dematerialisation.

According to him, with the process, shareholders forms already with the CSCS would be passed to the registrars, after which the registrars will notify the CSCS of the broker choice of the investor.

He added that the commission has commenced public enlightenment programme to reach out to all states in the country to enable investors comply with the process.

“The process is ongoing, we are doing a lot of public enlightenment to facilitate easy take off and we advice investors to cue into the process,” Gwarzo said.

Speaking on the 10-year capital market master plan, the SEC boss explained that the commission had already set up an advisory council that would review the report and make amendments where necessary.

“We have the list of advisory council and the CMC has given us the mandate to select 10 to 12
people and very soon, we will come out with the list,” Gwarzo said.

On the recapitalisation of stockbroking firms, the Director General maintained that the commission would stick to the September deadline.

He said, “a committee from the NSE and CSCS is already working towards that deadline and in
the next two to three weeks, we will know those that will meet the target. The committee is up and doing, having only two weeks to conclude the process.”